Ikea

Don’t try to get help for your needs, don’t try to contact their customer service line. It won’t go anywhere. I have tried getting replacement parts for furniture I purchased and have not received even the most minor acknowledgement.

Inexpensive furniture, a maze of a store, pretty good food for a very reasonable price.

The customer service line wouldn’t work for me. It was dead silent and I called three times!

I’m still reeling from my first IKEA experience. It was tremendous! For being so large and so busy, the place is mostly tidy and very well-​organized. Loved all the room/​apartment set ups as a way to see how some of their ideas work together. Never interacted with any employees but they were easy to spot in their yellow shirts, so it would have been easy to get assistance if we’d needed it. Wish there was an IKEA closer to where I live!

Oh IKEA, how I miss you. I wish you would bring a store to New Orleans, but… I will travel to Houston to visit you. I just love the atmosphere of the store. I also like that the items they sell are simple, clean (e.g. sharp lines).
I have added photos of the items I was perusing; I found a bedframe online and wanted to check it out in store, to make sure it was as nice in person as it was online. It was. I also found dressers that I may end up buying, because I have none.
IKEA is simple — simple in that you get the rudimentary things, and you assemble at home (or pay someone to do it for you); that is clearly part of the reason that many things are priced so reasonably.
Their food court looked OK, but I did not visit; I was too busy checking out the CHOCOLATE OMG THE CHOCOLATE. Daim bars are my favorite, and they will not disappoint.
You should know that if you plan to visit IKEA, A: follow the arrows on the floor. They will guide you through the store. B: there are some shortcuts to get to different parts of the store, but please do not go the opposite way of the arrows (it creates a cluster f* and is annoying).
That is all. I will return, IKEA!

This is the coolest furniture store that there is.
When I read through the complaints about this place, I see a lot of people griping about the food here. «Meh– no gluten free» «OMG! No pork-​free meatballs.» It’s a furniture store. Yes, they also sell meatballs, but it’s a furniture store. Go eat elsewhere if you don’t like Swedish food.
The furniture is not designed to be passed down to your great grandchildren. It’s designed to get you through the next few years with a bookcase. It’s fun to go from sample room to sample room, pretending you’re in all these sophisticated cheapskates’ kitchens and living rooms. I’ve heard that they’ve even offered dinner parties at the various kitchens.
Once you pick what you want, you write it down on a little shred of paper with an efficient golf pencil, and find that it’s been packed in a heavy box the size of a shoe box, and you have to assemble it.
Pro tip: If you go through the store backwards, you can start with the «As-​Is» section, where there are some absolute deals on slightly damaged merch. The parts are usually interchangeable, and you can get a decent piece of furniture on the super cheap!

Childs place. While Im sure the staff is attentive tot he childrens well being. I experienced a staff member that was rude and made rude comment of my children prior to being let in. My boys are average children when in line for 45 minutes. None are anywhere near disruptive, or problematic children at school, they can follow rules and arent toddlers. I had a nephew with me and two sons ages 7, 8 and 10. All below the height limit and they wanted to chill and not follow me around the store. So we waited to get them in. They were excited, chatting and luckily didnt hear the commentary of staff which I happened to hear. The staff member realized I heard and quickly walked away, the attendant taking the children in just smiled and allowed them in. It was just disrespectful and horrible for someone working with children to have such distasteful regard towards children. I am not sure what kind of training they have but it was very very distasteful. The children luckily didnt seem at all to notice. She basically said the children werent behaving and bad however they werent misbhaving by any means. At the time of the commentary they were each taking turns measuring their heights and I was talking to them about their heights.

I love the pricing and sleek modern design. Also it’s a great workout to roam around and in. I love coming for a good walk. It’s nice and inexpensive furniture but always depends on what you pick. I recommend coming to scour the floors of their setup rooms and check out kitchen gadgets. I love it and I think you will too! That is if you do like people and walking ;)

This is more a review of Ikea as a company than this particular location. In my experience all Ikeas are pretty much the same, regardless of what city they are located.
So the Ikea that has graced us with it’s presence is located off highway I-​10 near the 610 loop, west side Houston. It’s usually crowded but they have plenty of parking. You might have to park way in the back but it is available to you. When you walk in, there are various displays of their most current themes and designs.
Overall, it’s a fun place to go, if not a little overwhelming. Once I’ve made it from beginning to end my eyes start feeling heavy and I need a nap. It’s a great place to get inexpensive kitchenware, things like step stools and bar stools. I don’t think the quality is that great but if you’re not looking for something that lasts forever then it’s a perfect place to look around.
They also have a food court which I’ve never eaten at but the cinnamon rolls always smell good.
For those that have never been to this store, I’ll give you the rundown of how it works:
The top floor has the bigger items. If you’re interested in purchasing, there’s pencil and paper available at the entrance of the store and you write down the isle and information about the item. When you make it to the end (i.e. the warehouse), you’ll look for your item based on the info and can pick it up on your way out.
On the bottom floor, they have things like lamps, dishes, towels, smaller house hold items that you can pick up right then and there. They don’t have bags at check out so either bring your own, prepare to carry everything out individually, or purchase their reusable bags at check out.
I come here looking for a variety of items and usually find what I need. You can also order online.

Unorganized mess. Easy to get lost
… And most items way over priced.
…not worth the drive

An always crowded place that one tends to get lost in. This Ikea is very weak on parking and I watched many people just drive away after a lap around the lot. The displays are always fascinating and give great ideas. This location was out of many items, which I’ve never seen at Ikea before. The cafeteria here isn’t worth visiting if you’ve ever been to another Ikea. The wait to check out is long. This store needs to work on inventory!

Absolutely love this place. I’m a huge fan of HGTV and when I come here I feel the urge to buy everything a redesign certain rooms. I love seeing all the model rooms and getting ideas for my future home. The have a café upstairs and a snack bar downstairs. It’s a cool place to come to if you’re into design.

I literally can stay here all day… and we did. My girlfriend and I didn’t realize it but we were there for almost 9hrs. We had a lunch break, where the food was surprisingly decent and fairly priced. My only complaint is the lack of workers in the delivery section. We were in line for a little over an hour and there was probably only a handful of people ahead of us.

I dropped $ 2k in here yesterday for nothing… Yayyyyyy. Not to mention the $ 160 uhaul I rented.
I checked online to make sure all the furniture was available, said in stock and had multiple available (it says online their inventory is updated every 30 minutes). Said, «see ya!» To my old living room set and donated it and was on my way!
Spent 3.5 hours in the store making sure I had all I needed to redo my living room. Go down to the market hall where you pick up your items, checked computer and it tells me to ask an associate. Go to teenager guy at desks who is essentially sweating talking to other customers and appears to have no idea what’s going on, he looks up my items on computer — in stock, yay! — prints out my receipt after me telling him 7 times what I needed because he didn’t seem to understand and was confused as he nervously laughs, and tells me that I have to take my print out and pay then go pick up the items at furniture pick-​up. Ok cool! I pay and take my small items to the car while my significant other waits at furniture pickup. So by this time it’s about 5pm and I have to begin my hour long voyage home to pick up our son from daycare, so I’m off on my merry way and SO stays with uhaul and waits for furniture. An HOUR later after waiting, he asks if they’ve almost got his stuff together to which the rep says, «oh you’re still waiting cause we’re out of all these items». WHAT!!!
Apparently their inventory system is «messed up» and had NONE of the items I just purchased that cost me $ 2k nor could they refund me cause I left with the card I paid with. He asked if they can ship it to our house and the rep says no, so I tell him when he calls to talk to a manager. The manager eventually gets put on the phone with me because SO is passive and I’m a b**ch when it comes to getting things done, he sounds like he’s younger than me and supposedly is the «only manager in the entire store right then». I’m calling Bs but he says he thinks it’s more than sufficient to just ship the items to me house with no shipping costs. Honey, I know the shipping is roughly equivalent to what I spent on the uhaul alone, and I just dropped more money than you likely make in a month with nothing to show for it, not to mention the MINIMUM time my items will arrive is 10 days, and they won’t all come at once apparently. So here I am, no furniture, no $ 2k, wasted 5+ hours on ikea. They have zero customer service. Their items usually arrive missing parts. I guess you get what you pay for since they’re cheap-​o but I spent a lot of money this time.
¹⁰⁄₁₀ will not go back
Moral of the story: don’t rely on what their inventory says online OR in store, you have to ask someone since they have no real inventory system currently.
EDIT-​UPDATE: I received my furniture not 10 days after, but 4 WEEKS AFTER, and that is AFTER I called their corporate office 5 times!!! UGH!!!

I’d never been to an Ikea before this. I am glad I went with friends. It is huge. It is like a maze on the top floor, but really cool how they put everything together. If you’re feeling lost, they actually have arrows on the ground to show you how to get through it. Thanks Ikea!
They have tons of nice stuff, too much to take it all in in just one trip. If you see something you want in one of the «rooms» like furniture, check out the tag. It will provide you with, of course the price, but also the item number and the location of the item, which you will need when you finish with the second floor. The ground level is the warehouse portion. This is the time when you will take your cart and go locate the items you wrote down to checkout.
Tips:
1. Go early, there will be a line, but parking is hard to find midday.
2. If you’re looking for really cheap finds, when every one heads upstairs, stay on the ground level and just behind the registers there is the clearance section. Go there first to get first dibs.
3. Wear comfortable shoes.
4. They have food.
5. Drive a large vehicle.
6. This will be a day-​long outing.
7. Sign up for the membership (it’s free and it saves you money)
Now, go forth and shop.

This was my first IKEA experience and all I can say is WOW… I totally walked in to furniture heaven. So there’s apparently two sections to the store, the «display/​model» section where you get to see what the furniture and items look like, and the «pick up» section where you pick up the item to bring home and assemble.
Upon entering you’ll see a little kiosk on the left side, go to it! You can sign up for the «IKEA family member card». It’s free! And once you do that you’ll be able to buy furniture at a cheaper price than what non members have to pay (kind of like how having a krogers card gives you cheaper prices). Then go up the really long white escalators… Into the light (aahhh!)… Literally since they have fancy super bright lights strung above the winding escalator… And into a haven of bright, modern, and beautifully decorated furniture! Welcome to furniture heaven! Now, the way they arrange everything from here on out is by room. So for example, you’ll have all the model kitchens first. Then the model living rooms. Then model bedrooms, then kids bedrooms, etc. Everything is categorized and super easy to find! The store is easy to navigate as well bc they have arrows on the path for you to follow through the maze of rooms. If you follow the arrows it’ll take you through every room until you reach the end to take the exit escalators/​elevators down to the pick up area. Little pencils, papers, and disposable paper meter sticks are also available throughout the store for you to measure with, and write the product name, color, aisle, and bin down so you can find it in the pick up area (or you can take a picture with your phone!).
The store also has a kids play area for you to drop the kids off at while you shop, as well as a bakery/​food counter for you to buy food and drinks at. There’s also a little convenient store like section that sells random drinks, wine, and random products! IKEA is really cool! Will definitely need to go again and again :)

The best part about IKEA shopping is peeking in the display rooms that are perfectly decorated like a little playhouse. The cafeteria is also a contender. Parking in ANY IKEA is always a nightmare and a jaunt. The lines to pay are ridiculously long and hunting for your treasure in the warehouse can be exhausting.
After hiking thru the whole store and searching for our finds, we were sadly disappointed that the barstools we picked were not all available. A half day of fun and we walked out with nothing. Not to mention, the prices don’t seem like IKEA reasonable prices anymore:(This isn’t the biggest store but it sure was one of the busiest. Next time, I’ll shop online.

Aahhhh, IKEA, we meet again. Although I have wandered aimlessly among your aisles, hour after hour, searching for that one thing I didn’t realize was missing from my life until that moment my eyes laid upon the ‘thing’ I’ve been missing, I still return to waste countless hours walking. If you are a walker and looking for a good exercise spot that’s air conditioned, it’s not a bad idea to try walking here. Except your wallet might not like you spending so much time here!
Seriously, ikea has everything you may not have known you wanted. From cheap and stylish-​looking furniture, to art work and decorations, to kitchen gadgets and place settings. It’s almost impossible to leave this place empty handed — even the food is cheap. Hotdogs for $ 0.50, man, all that walking makes you hungry! It’s a fun visit, but be warned, you’ll keep coming back ‘just to look’ and spend way more money than you ever expected.

Ikea is more than a home improvement store, it’s a home for people like me who look to change things up! I absolutely love this store, and if I could, I would live here.
This store is humongous and full of wonder. It has almost everything under the sun. From small decoration to give that finishing touch to whole home remodeling! Anything and everything you will need for your place.
I will admit, certain things here are of poor quality, but for the most part, you will find decent items at very decent prices.
I purchased a dresser here over 8 years ago and it’s still holding on! I have repainted it and looks good! I have purchased other items from here and have been very happy with my purchases. Now big items as beds, couches or appliances I have never bought here, and not sure I would really invest, but accessories are great deals.
Make sure to join the Ikea family club to receive extra savings on certain things on sale. It’s a free membership and you can sign up in the kiosks at the front of the store.
Be aware the store is ALWAYS packed and it will take you some time to tour the showroom on the second floor and the warehouse on the ground floor. Also, be prepared to wait in line too as it seems all customers want to check out at the same time.
One thing you should definitely explore when you go is the food court! For some reason their hot dogs are delicious to me! And you can get a vanilla cone for a buck! You will have worked up an appetite once you have explored the is place, so treat yourself.
Tip: make sure you bring your own bags, or you will have to buy one here. They are inexpensive, but still a drag that they don’t give you a bag for your items. I have to buy one almost every time I come because I forget, so now I own a boat load of them. Nevertheless, one of my favorite home stores!

Ah, IKEA… I personally have always had good experiences at IKEAs in general and at this IKEA, specifically.
Although I’m not a fan of super-​modern looking décor, I do love a lot of the furniture and decorations at IKEA. I also like the home essentials, candles, frames, etc. I like it that they have pretty much everything you could need to set up a home, lots of options, and really fantastic prices. I have a bed (mattress) from IKEA that is SO comfortable. Over the years I’ve also had coffee tables, end tables, bookshelves, pots and pans, duvet covers, picture frames, etc. I’ve always been pleased.
An added perk of the IKEA experience is the food!!! I remember how shocked I was when I found out how good their food is! I know there’s that thing about the meatballs beings made of horse meat… and I have no idea if that’s true… but even if it was, aren’t we just opposed to horse meat because we’re not used to it? I’m not saying I want to eat horse meat, I’m just saying how is it different from eating a cow?
Anyway, their non meat food items are great too: ice cream, chocolate bars, cinnamon rolls, etc. I love the little Swedish grocery store that’s downstairs. And the food is just as affordable as the home goods.
So, yes, I am a fan of IKEA.